The Planet-Splitter
The Planet-Splitter was the fifteenth episode of the first season of the Super Friends. Like it is with much science fiction, The Planet-Splitter was a very well-layered story, laced with metaphor and lessons commonly associated with the human condition. In fact, for a Saturday morning cartoon that was intended to be kid's show, it was likely the closest Season 1 ever got to telling such an intelligent story, likely more suitable for adults. This wasn't something common for animation in the 1970s, especially during season one of this show. The plot isn't as essential to the story as the overall message. The message was that things aren't always what they seem. In the story, the "main antagonist" was presented as Doctor Lucius LeRoy LeBon, who planned to cut a planet in half and steal it's natural resources and bring them back to Earth. It wasn't revealed whether or not the world was inhabited, but it was implied that destroying the planet would be immoral, as Marvin White compares destroying an alien world to the destruction of the planet Krypton. He even tells him this would make Superman angry. But as evil as that may sound, he did have a pure motive, to help the Earth before it runs out of resources. The secondary antagonist, Wilbur; was portrayed quite differently however, he was shown to be a very nice man, with a strong admiration of the Man of Steel, who he calls his idol. The viewers are made to believe that he feels bad about stealing diamonds in order to power the Planet-Splitter, and especially outwitting the Superfriends. The audience is made to believe that he is just going along with Doctor LeBon, since it will ultimately benefit mankind. However, by the end of the episode we learn that his motives were far from pure, as he was clearly greedy, and had no interest in powering the device that was to be used to cut the planet in half at all, but rather was interested in keeping the diamonds for himself. This was something that even surprised LeBon, who trusted him as his assistant. For a kid's show of the '70s, this could be viewed as a surprising twist, since the entire episode made him seem like such a likable character, only to end up showing that he was really a disreputable individual. But that's not the only thing this episode is about, it also touched on problems a society can face based upon it's own political system, such as the bureaucratic nature of the Kryptonian civilization, which was shown in the Science Council. Like it was for LeBon with the people he presented his experiments to, the Science Council refused to listen to a certain group of scientists' experiments relating to the imminent destruction of their homeworld just due to the fact that one of them suggested breaking their laws related to constructing spacecraft, and because of that, they all died. This was actually not only quite dark for a Super Friends episode, but also a very real world problem. This episode was best-known for showing the Destruction of Krypton for the second time in the seriesWith the first time being in The Menace of the White Dwarf However it should also be noted that the Destruction of Krypton was also shown in Filmation's The New Adventures of Superman opening theme. and also the first time we see the Origin of Superman. These events are shown again in the episodes Secret Origins of the Superfriends and The Krypton Syndrome. An episode of the Superman series from 1988 also shows his origin story, and a character from this episode reappears in that one, Director Warner, although he wasn't named in this episode, and would not be until that one, which aired in 1988. This episode features the first appearance of Jor-El and Lara of the House of El, and also the first appearance of Superbaby. (Superman as a baby) Jonathan and Martha Kent make their first appearance in the series as well, although they did previously appear in the Filmation cartoons. The corruption of the United States Government was touched on during their appearance in this episode, which is why they decided to keep the rocket they found their adopted son in a secret, since they were afraid that government scientists would want to get their hands on the boy, and run tests on him as well as the rocket. Specifically mentioned was that greedy people would wish to profit from him, and they'd never get to keep him. A number of characters from DC Comics were referenced in this episode, although only indirectly, such as John and Mary Grayson, the parents of Dick Grayson aka Robin; Tony Zucco, who killed them; C.C. Haly, of Haly's Circus; and Jax-Ur, a Kryptonian whose crime led to the forbidding of space travel on Krypton. Morgan Edge was also indirectly referenced, because his company Galaxy Communications was mentioned. __TOC__ Synopsis Coming Soon! Plot Summary Cast Locations *Gotham City **Hall of Justice ***Justice League Commissary *** Justice League Hangar and Runway *County Museum of Art * Myanmar (or Burma), a country in Southeast Asia * Mandalay, a city located in Myanmar * Amsterdam, a city located in Holland ** Holland Jewelry Company *Cygnus Magnum star system, located in the Milky Way Galaxy **Cygnus-Uno, a planet in the Cygnus Magnum star system *Bank of London (in London, England) ** Communications room * ‘Tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhset’ in a pyramid in Cairo, Egypt * Atlantic Ocean *Sahara Desert, in Africa *Galaxy Communications (Referenced only, not shown) *Blinken and Bristol Circus ** Animal Compound *Doctor LeBon's Galaxy Observatory *Krypton **Kryptonopolis ***House of El ***Hall of Wisdom *** Jor-El's laboratory * Earth's Yellow sun (mentioned only) *Smallville **Kent Farm **County Orphanage Vehicles *Batmobile * Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet *Cruise Ship Lorelei * Batcopter * Doctor LeBon's Spacecraft * Jor-El’s Rocket Car * Kryptonian Space arks ** A ‘smaller’ version was used by Jor-El to send his infant son to earth * Howard Small's Yacht Items *Justice League Monitor in the Hall of Justice * TroubAlert in the Hall of Justice *Star of Persia, a precious stone *Zircon, a precious stone * Mandalay diamond, a diamond from Mandalay * Pride of the Zuiderzee, a precious stone * A Pendant worn around the neck of Mrs. Cadwalader ** Inside the pendant was a precious diamond * Planet-Splitter , a machine designed by Doctor Lucius LeBon ** Beam Timer * Egyptian diamond, a precious stone Event *Benefit Circus for Deprived Children * Destruction of Krypton Episode Title Coming Soon! Continuity Coming Soon! Continuity in Other Media Coming Soon! Notes *Kryptonian cars shown in this episode are similar to 60th century Earth rocketmobiles that were portrayed in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen # 28 (April 1958).For more information about that DC comic book, click here. *Robin's origin is spoken of for the first time (being a circus trapeze artist, his parent’s getting killed and Batman taking him in). *The orphanage shown in this episode was referred to as the County Orphanage, rather than the Smallville Orphanage, as it was called in The Adoption (1988). This implies that the orphanage was under the legal jurisdiction of the county, rather than the city. However, since the comics set on Earth-Two and Earth-One have always called it the Smallville Orphanage, and since the orphanage shown in this episode was presented as a story told by Marvin White, who was an unreliable source, we can assume that this is not true. *Marvin White's description of the Kryptonian Rocket looks much different than it did in other episodes, such as The Krypton Syndrome, Secret Origins of the Superfriends and The Adoption. *Three famous Superman and Batman villains from the comics are referenced in this episode, but not shown, they are: Jax-Ur, Morgan Edge and Tony Zucco. *Edge's company Galaxy Communications is referenced, making it only an indirect reference. *Zucco is also indirectly referenced when Robin mentions how his parents were killed. *Dick Grayson's parents, John and Mary Grayson are referenced in this episode, although not by name. The parents of both Superman and Robin are seen and/or referenced in this episode, as Robin's parents are mentioned, and Superman's parents are seen, both his biological parents and his foster parents. *References: Cygnus Magnum system, Security guard # 1, security guard # 2, precious stones, Captain of the Lorelei, Persia, cushion, Zuiderzee, investigate, tiger, elephants, circus wagon, carousel, Mandalay, juggling, Olympic weightlifting, Marvin's bicycle, diaper, Wendy's bicycle, poverty, Mrs. Cadwalader's employee, Cadwalader's Hired Detective, Cadwalader's hired detective, Mrs. Cadwalader's Hired Detective, Plato, Socrates, Phaedus, steak, bread, train 1608, Boron, Thalon, Haron, Mayton, intercom, dispensary, adoption, profit, purse, applicants, investigate, photograph, Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, The Kent's pickup truck, needle, skin, steel, nurse, toy boat, rattle, dice, Rocking Horse, squeaky fish, ball, light fixture, army, telephone, Speedy, pen, horse hood ornament, Clark family, Bank of England, Rule, Britannia!, James Thomson, Thomas Arne, British technician, Egyptian technician, camel, hot, Sahara Desert, air-cooled camels, Yacht of Howard Small, Howard Small diamond, ocean, eye, clouds, Big Ben, Palace of Westminster, gyroscopes, language, protest, accessory, 314, crime, police shows, bus depot, Bank of England Director, Bank of England director, Bank of London director, Bank Of England director, Bank Of London Director George III of the United Kingdom, communications room, young people, 10 years in jail, city, United States, depression, ears, canine, Superhuman Ears, stakeout, compass, simulated duplication, floods, avalanches, high tides, books, Test 98, handbag, X-ray eyes, lifting control, civic leaders, businessman, scientific community, power, Beam Timer, Jack (device), Lucius LeRoy LeBon, laughing, supernovas, subterranean coal mine tunnels, Batplane, coal mining, minecart, elevator, gas, hydraulics, fuzz food, meat balls, chow chow, steak bones, sausages, Micro-dot homing device, Justice League Commissary, Wonder Dog's Food Storage, wrench and jet car. Quotes *"Zonkers!" --- Marvin White *"Holy high pitched noises, Batman! --- Robin *"Holy supernovas! --- Robin External links Coming Soon! References Category:Episodes Category:1973 Releases